Kathmandu, July 25:

President of National Federation of Community Electricity Consumers Nepal (NFCECN) Dilli Ghimire said the government needed to amend bylaws for power generation in rural areas.

Speaking at a programme organised on the occasion of third anniversary of NFCECN, Ghimire said that decentralisation of power to the grassroots level was crucial for development and specific rules and laws related to rural electrification had to be introduced as soon as possible.

According NFCECN data till March 15, electricity was available to more than 215 rural and small-scale industries. Power was available to 29,441 households, far below the target of 168,000. NFCECN had collected Rs 460 million from 20 per cent rural electrification.

“By following the format of rural electrification,” said economist Ratna Sansar Shrestha,

“three houses could have access to electricity, whereas the format of ADB could only provide electricity to one house.” He characterised the trend of rural people made to pay more in electricity bills than urban dwellers as “social domination.”

According to Shrestha’s study, the free small hydroelectricity project under the government’s energy sector assistance programme produced about four mega watts of power, through which about 36,700 households benefited up until May 28.